After the news that the Russian secret services paid the Taliban in reward for the murder of American soldiers in Afghanistan, raised justifiable outrage. What is particularly annoying is the fact that trump immediately after taking office in January of 2017 ordered the intelligence community to cooperate with Russia in combating terrorism.
For those of us who worked in the CIA and the Russian counter-terrorism, the past 30 years, requests for increased cooperation with the Russian special services are not new. Each of us somehow participated in serious attempts to establish with the Kremlin more closely. But they all failed. In fact, the Bush administration, Obama and trump somehow sought to “reset” U.S.-Russian relations, believing that the pursuit of common interests in the fight against terrorism was a logical step to improve the General political situation. But all of these failed attempts for the same reason: Putin’s Kremlin in a constructive relationship with the US is not interested. Putin believes that the leading us political war. And retrieves for himself the political benefit of blaming all their troubles of the United States.
The CIA regularly shared with the Russian colleagues information about threats. In fact, after September 11 (referring to the September 11, 2001, when a group of Islamist terrorists captured planes and flew them into the symbolically important buildings in new York and Washington — approx. ed), both sides vowed to cooperate more closely and share information. Putin was the first foreign leaders to call President George Bush after the September 11 attacks, and it was believed that the Russian experience in Afghanistan and its relations in the middle East will be useful for the America in the fight against this new challenge. In addition, Russian also suffered from the devastating terrorist acts in the country.
The day after September 11, the Director of the counterterrorism center, the CIA informed Bush that the Russian will be key partners in the fight against the terrorist movement al-Qaida*. Alas, he did not coordinate his comments with the departments of the CIA that are engaged in Russia, they would he suggested that, contrary to all reasonable assumptions, the Kremlin is unlikely to help. Russian security services consider the CIA as the enemy, and in cooperation see another way to undermine US interests.
Putin continues to play by the harsh rules of the cold war. Because trump allows him.
Anyway, shortly after the terrorist attacks in Moscow hosted a summit of intelligence services at the highest level at which the CIA organized exchange of information and experiences with agencies around the world. Soon, however, the Kremlin focused its requests on the fight against domestic terrorism, urging all stakeholders to engage in a “global war against Chechen terrorism.” Worse yet, the Russian intelligence service used the collaboration to undermine US relations with other services around the world — in particular, revealing the identity of CIA hostile countries. Despite the exchange of intelligence, the Russian service relate to colleagues from the CIA as adversaries, not as partners.
Soon after, in the early spring of 2002, when American troops recaptured Kabul from “al-Qaeda”* the terrorist and the Taliban*, the Russians asked the US for help to return to Afghanistan. Washington saw this as an opportunity for further rapprochement, the chance of promotion and stimulation of bilateral relations. However, the Russian request quickly escalated into demands more and more support. After several months of cooperation with the Afghan authorities to meet Russia’s requests and the exchange of intelligence, it became clear that the Russian in win-win relationships are not interested — they are only interested in the ability to spy on US actions inside Afghanistan.
Although the first attempts to involve the Russians in mutually beneficial relationships without success, in the mid-2000s, the White house was ready to try again. Again natural area for the resumption of broader cooperation was selected against terrorism. Knowing that the Bush administration is betting on the improvement of relations, the Russians used the contacts with the CIA to get information and to fill in the gaps in their knowledge, but gave nothing in return.
In 2013, the then Director of the defense intelligence Agency Lieutenant General Michael Flynn (Michael Flynn) was in Moscow with official visit. There Flynn met with Russian intelligence officers, including representatives of the military intelligence, the GRU. In preparation for the trip Flynn Intelligence Department of the Ministry of defense noted that Flynn would like to discuss with their Russian counterparts expanding cooperation in the fight against terrorism. The team Flynn noted that this is a natural area for closer cooperation between the United States and Russia over common values in the fight against terrorism. Knowing about decades of Russian attempts to manipulate the counter-terrorism cooperation, Flynn still insisted on cooperation — it is obvious, based on common interests and goals. GRU’s unwillingness to share real information and the subsequent Russian attempts to hack into computer systems of the US government and electoral system of America once again showed their unwillingness to cooperate.
Trump ready for Putin at all. It is not surprising that Russian reward to the Taliban he ignores.
When Pro-Russian administration trump came to power in early 2017, the intelligence community realized that he would have to seek opportunities for cooperation with Russia in the middle East, and specifically on the issue of the outgoing out of terrorism. On the background of two decades of failed attempts and still fresh in the memory of the Russian attack on the American elections another “reboot” has become for many in the intelligence community a bitter pill to swallow. Their concerns they shared with the White house. However, aiming at enhancing the exchange of intelligence, the CIA has once again taken conscientious efforts in this direction. As reported by the media, high-ranking representatives of the Russian intelligence was invited to the United States, and the CIA tried to develop cooperation in the fight against global terrorism. Several times Russian colleagues thanked the CIA for information that helped prevent terrorist attacks against Russian citizens. But, as before, attempts to formalise and develop cooperation failed. The Russian side has not supplied US important information to prevent potential threats.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin’s attempt to eliminate the former Russian spy Sergei Skripal in the UK and the subsequent expulsion of Russian diplomats and diplomats hurt was renewed counter-terrorism exchange.
It turns out that common objectives in the fight against terrorism is not necessarily followed by General views and approaches. Russia is really determined to root out radical terrorism within its borders, but the heirs of the Soviet special services may support terrorist groups fighting against the United States. Although Islamic terrorism is the common enemy, the main enemy of Russia — still the USA. The Kremlin is more interested in hurting US than helping in solving the problem of terrorism, even if he shines in this kind of an additional benefit.
We at the CIA have often joked that a win-win for Putin- it’s “I beat you twice.” The good intentions of the United States repeatedly has failed to improve relations. Our recurrent desire to cooperate with the Russians in the fight against terrorism akin to the following strange behavior. You crank at home the baboon, and then wonder why you face is all scratched up. And a little later, when all you face is healed, you go out and buy another baboon. How many times Russians have to scratch we face before we realize that we have a fundamentally different purpose?
* is banned in Russia organization.
John out — the former head of the CIA, more than 27 years working in Russia, Europe and Asia. Co-Founder Of Spycraft Entertainment.
Steven Holl, a former CIA officer, retired in 2015, after 30 years. Planned and conducted operations in the Russian direction.
Douglas wise — a former CIA officer, retired in 2016, after more than thirty years. Former Deputy Director of the defense intelligence Agency.
